A Roman fresco stolen from the Vesuvian town of Oplontis and recovered by Italian art police from a private house in Paris has gone on show to the public for the first time at Rome’s Palazzo Massimo. The fragmentary fresco dates from the first century AD and at almost three metres long is the largest landscape painting ever discovered in the area near Naples that was covered in ash during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

Art police believe the fresco was secretly detached from the walls of a villa in Oplontis (modern day Torre Annunziata) in the 1970s and subsequently travelled to Europe on the illegal art market. Investigators say the painting was in Geneva in the early 1980s, and it then moved to Brussels before ending up in the French capital. It was removed from the house of a French publisher and art collector in February and returned to Italy.

Fresco fans wanting to see the landscape have until 1 June to visit it in Rome, where it is on display as part of the Rosso Pompeiano exhibition at Palazzo Massimo, after which it will be returned to the Pompeii archaeology department. Entry to the museum is free over the next few days as, like all city-run museums, Palazzo Massimo celebrates Culture Week.

Art Hostage comments:

What else was recovered from the Paris mansion of Jean Marie Messier ??

Did authorities recover the Manet stolen from the Gardner museum in Boston ?

Authorities did however, miss all the stolen art at the Messier rural villa, it has since been hidden.

The fresco came from Medici and Robin Symes also got paid a fee as a broker.

Update, Art Hostage has been informed by a French political insider that Jean Marie Messier has let it be known he is calling in favours owed by none other than the current French President Nick Sarkozy. This is being done via back-channels and the subject of the Gardner paintings will be put to Jean Marie Messier by Art Hostage's French connection.

Whilst not in possession of all of the Gardner paintings, the ones Jean Marie Messier has in his stolen art collection will be a start.

The recovered stolen and looted artworks from Jean Marie Messier are only the tip of the iceberg.

Upon another note, any input by Alex Boyle is going to be airbrushed out of the recovery, which, I might add, is true to form.

Sorry, nearly forgot, Art Hostage has learnt Jean Marie Messier may be in possession of the 1999 stolen Picasso taken in the French port of Antibes from the big Yacht belonging to a Saudi Prince, no not our old friend Prince Waleed, can remember this Saudi Prince's name, something like Ma Hat, Ma Coat !!

Previously Art Hostage thought this Picasso had been sold to Prince Waleed, which at the time seemed strange given it was stolen from a fellow Saudi, although there is rivalry amongst Saudi stolen art collectors of who owns the most wanted !!

Shhhh, we are not supposed to acknowledge the existence of Dr No figures !!

Especially when they are some of the most high profile public figures in Europe, America, North and South, Asia and the Middle East in particular. Not forgetting Russia and emerging India and China's new rich.

Come to think about it, there are Dr No Stolen art collectors from all parts of the world.